High-stretch knitted fabric



Aprii 18, .1961 H. sEGHEzzl HIGH-STRETCH KNITTED FABRIC Filed Sepl'.. 6, 1957 .o L I erw IW N 5 fm s my@ B United States Patent() 2,919,928 HIGH-'STRETCH KNITIED FABRIC Hans Seghezzi, Linsenhofen, Kreis Nurtingen, Germany Filed Sept. 6, 1957, Ser. No. 682,378 5 Claims. (Cl. 66196) This invention is concerned with improvements in or relating to high-stretch knitted fabric.

Fabrics having high-stretch are normally produced by one of two processes. In one process, rubber threads are worked into the material or the material is treated with a rubber solution; in the' other method, the fabric is made from crimped polyamid yarn. l

Material produced by either of these processes has a number of serious disadvantages.

In using rubber one has to take into account its unfavourable wearing properties. Thus, rubber is unpleasant to wear next to the skin, is frequently insuiciently permeable to air and has an unpleasant smell. Moreover, it does not age well, for it becomes brittle on Aprolonged use in the atmosphere, especially in the ,-presence of skin oils. Furthermore a material having 'rubber threads can hardly be repaired when damaged, since one cannot tie together exposed and broken rubber lthreads.

Knitted fabric made from crimped polyamide threads can become unpleasant looking owing to the drawing of capillary libres, and moreover crimped polyamide yarn is sensitive to the action of sunlight. When greatly stretched, knitted fabric made from polyamide yarn can become transparent.

In view of this, it is clear that the hitherto known high-stretch yarns and knitted fabrics have important disadvantages in respect to wearing and ageing properties.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved high-stretch knitted fabric.

The knitted fabric according to the invention is par- ;ticularly suitable for the production of swimming suits, bandages, welts, and the like close-fitting material, it can be stretched both lengthwise and breadthwise, and does not become transparent even when greatly stretched; it is pleasant to wear on the skin, it has high resistance `to ageing under the action of the atmosphere, light, -grease and oil. It does not readily produce drawn fibres. Any damage to individual loops of the knitted material can be repaired in a simple manner.

Moreover, synthetic yarns can be used for the production of the knitted fabric according to the invention in such a manner that their favourable properties are brought into prominence without their known disadvantages having much substantial effect on the practical value of the knitted fabric.

This objectis achieved in the knitted fabric according to the invention by the use of two different yarns and by the specialmanner of their arrangement.

According to the invention there is provided ya highstretched knitted material comprisingv a double-sided knit from a bulky yarn and a one-side knit from a fine, more' stretchable yarn, the two knits being worked into each other so that the one-sided knit forms an intermediate layer between the two sides of the double-sided rib yknit both in unstretched or stretched conditions.

t The bulky yarn in addition to having a high volume, preferably has good wearability, high resistance to ageing 2,979,928 Patented Apr. 18, 1961 lrCC in the atmosphere and light, and as high as possible an absorption coefficient for UV-radiation. Its elasticity can be low. Preferred yarns for this purpose are polyacrylonitrile worsted yarns.

The fine yarn should be as elastic as possible and should retain its stretch even over long periods of stretching. On the otherhand it need not be immune to the effect of sunlight and mechanical rubbing and can even have bad wearing properties. The known crimped yarns of high stretch can therefore be used for this purpose. Preferably, set crimped polyamide yarns are used.

The arrangement of these two yarns is very important. A rib knit from the bulky yarn and a single sided knit from the fine yarn are so worked into each other that the loops kof the single-sided knit come to lie neither on the uppernor on the underside of the rib knit, but form an intermediate layer between the two sides. The rib knit has a relatively large length of thread between the two loop surfaces. Owing to its high stretch, the fine yarn draws its own loop heads beneath the level of the knit from the bulky yarn, and at the same time draws the entire knitted fabric together so strongly that Ythe loops of the knit which is ribbed and double-sided lie very close to one another on the surfaces. As a result, the knitted fabric has a pleasant appearance.

On stretching the knitted fabric according to` the invention the threads of the knit from the iine yarn are tensionally stressed, whereas the knit from the bulky yarn, owing to the large length of thread between the two loop surfaces, can follow the stretching without substantial stress. The limit of stretch of the knitted fabric is hence determined by the rib knit. Upon reaching the limit of stretch, the tine yarn does not become fully extended and hence still is nontransparent.

The accompanying drawings show in section a preferred embodiment of knitted fabric according to the invention.

Figure l is a plan view showing a ribbed knit from a bulky yarn; the great length of thread between the two loop surfaces will be observed.

Figure 2 shows a single-sided plain knit from iine crimped yarn. The knit is very flat in comparison with that of the previous figure.

Figure 3 illustrates the manner in which the two knits are worked into each other according to the invention. The knitted fabric is shown in unstretched condition.

Figure 4 shows the same knitted fabric stretched nearly to the elastic limit.

|Figures 3 and 4 make it clear that the upperside and i the under-side of the knitted fabric are formed exclusively of loops of yarn 1, whereas the liat unit from yarn 2 does not appear on the surface.

It is apparent that the arrangement ofthe knitted fabric can be modified in various ways without interfering with the basic arrangement of the knitted fabric according to the invention. Thus, for example, additional relief ribs and relief patterns can be knitted in.

In order that the invention may be well understood, it will now be described with reference to the following example which is given by way of illustration only.

As yarn 1 there is used polyacrylonitrile worsted yarn whereas set, crimped polyamide thread which can be stretched by rabout 500% is used as yarn 2. By the use of these synthetic materials the resultant knitted fabric is mothproof, remains felt-free, and hence airpermeable, and dries quickly.

The knitting is carried out on an interlock circular knitting machine which must have two needle carriers, the one carrier having twice the number of needles as the second carrier, and the needles of the second carrier being exactly in line opposite some of the needles of the first carrier. The machine operates in such a way vtially constant stretch even in wet condition.

that the opposed needles cannot be projected at one'feed at the same time, but so that one feed projects some of the needles of the two carriers at the same time, and an- -otherE ife'ed projects l'the"needleslfof t-he Yr'st carrier-only vfed-t0 second feed and-'forms plainvknit stitcheson the needles in succession.

Furthermore/since the consumption of yarn 2 compared with `yarnil is reduced owing toi theV at plain web and the small loops, and in order'- to providev for a faultless formation ofthe stitches, the quantity of thread for theplainf'web must be regulated throughsome type of lock or, better, a thread regulator the drive gear of which has about 46% less teeth than that of the thread regulator for the ribbed web.

The rib knit thus produced hasgood resistance to direct exposure to sunlight, a pleasant hand, high. heatretaining capacity, rapid ldrying properties, and substan- The high stretch of the single-sided knit from polyamide yarn enables the fabric to contract very strongly. Both knits have high resistance to oil and alkalis.

Although the described embodiment shows many advantages, the invention is in no Way restricted to the use of interlock-circular knitting machines. Thus, for eX- ample, one. may Yuse :a fiat-knitting machineprovidedwith an interlock needle position, and if desired, thread regulators need not be used.

The claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. A high stretch composite knitted fabric, comprising a rib fabric consisting of a bulky yarn and a fabric consisting of a ne highlylstretchable yarn, the two fabrics being interknit so that the second-mentioned fabric forms an intermediate'layer betweenfthetwo'sides of the rstmentioned. fabric. Y

2. A composite knitted fabric according to claiml, wherein therstamentionedfabric has thesa-me appearance on both sides and wherein `the second-mentioned fabric is plain knitted and forms the intermediate layer both in unstretched and stretched conditions of the composite fabric.

3. A composite knitted fabric according to claim 1, wherein fthe -trstrnentioned fabric' consists of r a .bulky polyacrylonitrile worsted-yarn. A

v4.7A 'composite kn'ittedfabric according toffclaim 1, wherein the second-mentioned fabric consists'of Va set, crimped polyamide yarn.

5 A composite knitted fabric according to 4claim 1, said composite fabric having additional knitted-iniribs.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,087,690 Scott et al. Feb. 17,v 1914 2,009,361 Lawson July 23, 1935 2,503,444 lLawson et al Apr. 11, 1950 r2,755,616 Weller July 24, 1956 

